https://independent-magazine.org/2020/10/01/spike-lees-documentary-on-american-utopia-at-nyff-and-bamboozled-at-20-is-still-relevant/
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976
This weekend the New York Film Festival will continue its extended schedule on drive-in screens around New York and computer screens around the world with Spike Lee’s documentary on David Byrne’s Broadway show, American Utopia. Lee, along with eleven camera operators and cinematographer Ellen Kuras (who shot Lee’s Bamboozled), capture the thrill of live performance… Read more »
Film at Lincoln Center recently announced the 25 films that comprise the Main Slate of the 58th New York Film Festival, which will run from September 17 – October 11. The festival has an expanded schedule in order to provide additional access to the festival via drive-in screenings at The Brooklyn Army Terminal and Queens… Read more »
We find ourselves in a global pandemic, quarantined in our homes, and collectively isolated from our loved ones. Members of the Black community are facing police violence and murder at an unwavering rate and the Trump Administration continues to avoid acknowledging these atrocities; yet, thousands of protesters have turned up in order to speak out… Read more »
The 2018 American Film Market just wrapped up in Santa Monica, California. This year saw comparably stronger sales for small, independent films. Courtney Sheehan was at the AFM, and writes about the importance of relationships and risk-taking, key themes that emerged in the conference sessions on production and distribution.
Courtney Sheehan reports on digital media pioneer Katerina Cizek, who has brought a new documentary project to the Toronto International Film Festival. Cizek is leading the co-creation of the MIT Open Documentary Lab, a research center for emerging new media technologies. Sheehan discusses Cizek’s newest film project and the exciting innovations in documentary filmmaking that are being explored.
What has been an absence of cinematic dialogue about gun access and violence in the United States was filled with both documentaries and fiction features at Sundance 2016. The Independent’s Maddy Kadish and Neil Kendricks debate the merits and emotional impact of several titles.
ITVFest’s executive director Philip Gilpin thinks the peaceful Vermont location adds an invaluable dimension to the festival focused on Internet entertainment. Plus, he said that when execs are shocked by the line-up because “what they’re seeing is better than what they are watching most nights on TV. A lot of these projects are screen ready.”
How did the buying and selling stack up at this year’s TIFF? Courtney Sheehan takes the temp of the ever-feverish world of independent film exhibition and distribution by talking with Adam Birnbaum (Avon Theatre), Julie Anderson Friesen (Cinema Falls), and Andrew Carlin (Oscilloscope Laboratories).
Maddy Kadish reviews films featured at the 58th San Francisco International Film Festival, which is now extending the festival fun with an online screening room.
The Filmatic Festival is a forum for that film geek and science nerd in all of us. It describes itself as dedicated to “the art of science and cinema” and explores the convergence of science, technology, cinema, and the artistry that can develop from it. The festival ran from April 30–May 3 at University of… Read more »